Platen equipment



Patented Get. 21, 1924.

DAVID YULEE READ, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIOTT-FISHER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

PLATEN EQUIPMENT.

Application filed April 30, 1923. Serial No. 635,659.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that DAVID Y. READ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, District of Columbia, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Platen Equipments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to platen equipment, and more particularly to equipment for mav chines of the flat platen type.

The object of the invention is to facilitate statement and ledger posting in which it is desired thatthe items shall appear in a vertical column on the statement, while the rec 0rd of the items will appear in a horizontal line on the ledger, the records of successive statements appearing on successive lines of the ledger.

To the accomplishment of the above object, the invention resides in equipping the platen with paper holding and feeding means, which, while retaining the ledger sheet stationary retains the statement sheet in proper position over the ledger during the printing of an item and advances the statement sheet both transversely and longitudinally of the platen to the next column position of the ledger sheet, so that when the next item is printed below the first item on the statement sheet the record thereof will appear by the side of the first item record in the next column of the ledger sheet.

To the accomplishment of the object stated and others subordinate thereto, the preferred embodiment of the invention resides in the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter fully described.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the flat platen of the Elliott-Fisher billing machine of commerce.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view, partly broken away, of the statement slide and guide.

Machines of the type under consideration include a flat platen 1 mounted ina platen frame 2 surmounted by traveling printing mechanism not shown which travels longitudinally of the platen for line spacing and transversely of the platen for letter spacing.

This permits the printing or typewriting of words and numbers at any desired points of work sheets mounted on the platen. Usually the platen 1 is movable vertically to clamp a work sheet as, for instance, a ledger sheet 3 against the under side of a work holding flange a which extends along one of the side members of the frame 2. The ledger sheet is customarily printed with writing and column lines 5 and 6 dividing its surface into writing spaces and columns.

Imposed upon the ledger sheet in one form of condensed billing is a bill or statement 7 on which certain data as, for instance, the items of a public service account are printed in a vertical column. As these items are printed one below another the. rec- 0rd thereof is transferred to the ledger sheet as, for. instance, through the medium of the carbon sheet 8. The record items thus transferred do'not appear on the ledger sheet one under another as they do on the bill or statement, but appear side by side in ahorizontal row along a single writing line of the ledger but in different column positions, the column designations of the ledger sheet corresponding to the line designations of the bill or statement sheet. To secure this vertical arrangement of the items printed on the statement sheet and the horizontal arrangement of the record of these items on the ledger sheet, it is necessary to move the state- 'ment sheetafter each item entry, to the next column position of the ledger sheet and also in a vertical direction to advance the next line of the statement sheetto bring it opposite the same line of the ledger sheet to which the previous entry was transferred. The sum of these two movements of the statement'is a movement corresponding to the diagonal of one column width of a line space, and this diagonal when continued across the ledger sheet defines a line of advance for the statement sheet which is disposed at an angle of ten or fifteen degrees from the horizontal when the proportions are substantially as shown. p

This diagonal line of advance is defined by a guide 9 formed by the rear edge of a tapering guide plate 10 disposed transversely of the platen and having a row of stud apertures 11 at one end for the reception of the studs or pins 12 of a continuous feed tape 13. The tape 13 is a well known feature of machines of this type and is advanced as, for

instance, a line space at a time by any suitable means, such as a knur ed wheel 14. This advance or adjustment of the tape 13 longitudinally of the platen feeds the guide plate to successive line positions of the ledger, so that single line records of succes sive statements will appear on successive lines of the ledger.

l/lovable along the guide 9 is a bill or statement holder or slide having a slidable connection with the rear edge of the guide plate 10 as, for instance, by the interfolding of the adjacent edges of the plate 10 and the slide 15 shown in 16 and 1'? in Fig. 3. At its rear edge the slide 15 is provided with retaining means 18 which engages and holds the lower or front edge of the bill or statement. Retaining means 18 may be in the form of small'projections located alternately in slightly different planes or staggered sufiiciently to permit the reception and retention oil the bill. To assist in the retention of the bill. holder or slide 15 and to facilitate its accurate advance the distance of a column position after the entry of each item, slide advancing means is provided. This advancing means is in the form of a spring 19 having one end 20 secured to the slide 15 and its opposite end 21 free with the intermediate portion of the spring coiled or looped as indicated =t 22. This intermediate coil or loop 22 causes the two ends of the spring to normally stand in separated relation as indicated by dotted n as 7 lines in Fig. 1.

The free end 21 of the advancing spring is designed to engage projections 23 prelierably struck up from the metal of a guide plate 10. The full line showing in Fig. 1 shows the parts in the positions they assume when the operator by squeezing the ends of the spring 19 together has advanced the statement until the end 20 of the spring has been arrested by projectionQS. It now the spring is released the free end 21 will move to the position indicated by dotted lines and engage the next projection 13. After the entry of an item the operator will again squeeze the advancing spring together causing the end 20 of the spring to move over the projection originally en aged by it, and to advance until arrested by the nextprojection. The operator will again release the spring; the free end. will advance to the next projection and after the entry of the next item on the statement, the feeding or advancing ope-ration just described will be repeated. Obviously, as the slide is moved along the inclinedguide the statement carried by the former will necessarily be advanced in the diagonal line already de scribed as necessary to secure a horizontal record of vertically disposed entries on the bill. I

When a bill has been made out the bill holder is returned to its new position for the reception of a new bill and is advanced one line space of the ledger by a line space movement of the guide plate with the tape 13, which, as before stated, is given a line space movement through the medium 01 the knurled wheel 14-, or other means.

It is thought that from the foregoing the construction, operation and advantages of the described platen equipment will be clearly understood, but I reserve the right to eil'ect such modifications of the illustrated structure as may come fairly within the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a platen, oi means for retaining superposed work sheets opposite the platen, said retaining means permitting, and guiding said work sheets in relative movement in an angular direction with respect to the lines of writing.

2. The combination with a platen, oi separate devices ior holding superposed work sheets, one of said devices movable to dillerent positions transversely of the platen in an angular direction with respect to the lines of w -iting.

The combination with a. fiat platen, of means for holding a ledger sheet thereon, an angular guide disposed across the platen and a bill or statement holder shil'table along said guide in an angular direction with respect to the lines of writing.

4;. The combination with a fiat platen, 01 means for holding a ledger sheet thereon, an angular guide disposed across the platen, a bill or statement holder shiftable along said guide in an angular direction with respect to the lines of writing and a movable mounting for the guide.

5. The combination with a platen, means for holding the ledger sheet thereon, a guide movable in a line spacing direction and disposed at an angle with respect to the lines of writing, and a bill holder shiitable along the guide.

G. The combination with a platen, of a guide disposed thereover, a bill holder movable along the guide, and means for advancing the bill holder.

7. The combination with a platen, of a bill holder, means for advancing the bill holder to successive line space positions, and means for guiding the bill holder for move ment in the letter space direction but at an angle with respect to the lines of writing.

8. The combination with a platen. of means for retaining a ledger sheet thereon, a feed tape, an inclined guide extended from the feed tape, and a bill holder mov able along said guide' In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

DAVID YULEE READ.

lit) 

